Peanuts

• I just realized that Matthew is now as old as our friend Joe was when he asked me almost 10 years ago, "Is Rachel part of your family?" Rachel says that my answer ("Not yet, Joe") was her first clue that I was serious.
  
• Matthew: "What are those things that are like computers, but you put paper in them, and you have to pull a lever to make the paper come out?" Me: "A typewriter?"
  
• Matthew is walking to school now, per The Mommy Compromise. (He wanted to six months ago, but Rachel wanted to wait 'til he was 7. So when he turned seven I twisted her arm and she okayed it.) Most mornings he walks with his friend Connor, but sometimes Connor forgets or is late and Matthew goes by himself. He's very pleased with this sign of independence.
  
• Melissa, praying: "We're thankful everyone has lips." Rachel and I opened our eyes to exchange glances and suppressed chuckles. Not something that would have occurred to me, but Amen!
  
• Did my 2008 federal taxes on Oct 14. (All you people who thought waiting 'til April 15 to file was procrastinating? Amateurs.)
  
• Melissa was playing with a sequin (yes, just one) on the toilet and dropped it. Apparently I was supposed to fish it out. Sorry; there's a pretty short list of things I'll stick my hand into poo-swirled water for, and that's not one of them. I declined, and a grand mal tantrum ensued.
  
• "It's all broke! I HATE these!" Matthew has a love/hate relationship with legos. Mostly hate.
  
• Missed the fine print on Amazon's return policy: 15% fee for opened computers. Ouch.
  
• Rachel: "Now that X moved out of the ward, Melissa has the shortest attention span in Sunday School." Good thing her teacher is a saint. But just in case, we have a standing offer with her to come sit with Melissa if she needs help sitting still.
  
• Rachel made bubble tea -- sugary drinks with tapioca "bubbles," or "balls," as Matthew calls them. This resulted in comments such as "Everyone wants my balls," and "Who wants some of my balls?" I kept cracking up, and Rachel kept glaring at me. Comedy GOLD.
  
• I was just starting to lift Isaac's legs to wipe when he reached down, grabbed his dirty diaper, and pulled it out. "That's why I change him over a [cloth] diaper," Rachel pointed out. But in this case, it wouldn't have helped; the poop was, quite literally, far-flung.
  
• Matthew was climbing the fridge to get down the milk from the top shelf, and knocked down the apple cider Rachel just bought. It split open, spilling half a gallon all over the kitchen floor. Half a gallon covers a wide area; most of the kitchen, in fact. After wiping it up I mopped three times with water, pine sol, and water again. Then the mop broke, so I called it good. Still need to get a new mop.
  
• Isaac just victimized the last door stop thingy. He likes to pull the rubber heads off the springs. Now he got the one by the garage door; I think that's all of the
  
• Matthew's first sarcasm: "Thanks a LOT for losing my math thing, Mom." They grow up so fast... (And yes, he gets this from his father. I don't remember Rachel being sarcastic in front of the kids.)
  
• The universal unit of size to Matthew is The Daddy. At the zoo, everthing was "It's as big as Daddy! It's taller than Daddy! Daddy, could you pick that up? What about that, is that as big as Daddy?"